JSanders is correct that you can change the default option for suretype by typing the word 3x in a row, select the word you want to be your default 1st option, and you are in business.

As far as "are" and "see" go, that one used to annoy me too. However there is a suretype shortcut that will ease your pain. Keep "are" as your default for the keypress combo of AS/ER/ER. There is a built-in shortcut that when you press AS/ER and then the space bar (or any punctuation or enter for that matter) the word gets converted to "see".